This is my last blog for a little while. But don’t worry, I’ll be back after seeing my family and take a much needed break. The past two months, I’ve been busier than ever before with my blog. I’ve been featured in two magazines, and completed a secret santa blog swap with Sophia Harlow. I also took on two new companies. I’ve done a lot in the past two months, so it’s fitting that a little rest and relaxation is needed.

As the days get closer to Christmas, I can’t help think about all the changes that I’ve gone through this year. I’ve had a lot happen–some good and not so good. There are days where I am filled with joy and others that are difficult. Yesterday was definitely one of those days that tested me. Life will always be full of ups and downs–even a few surprises. But I’m looking forward to a few days of blissful sleep and spending time with loved ones.

If I could ask anything for Christmas, I know what I would ask for. Sometimes though wishes don’t always come true, no matter how bad you want them too. You may get exactly what you need, but not what you want. This also applies to life in general. In those moments, you can only be thankful for what you have and not focus on what you don’t. My heart is worse for wear some days. Then there are days filled with happiness.

I wish you all a Christmas filled with bliss. Remember, be thankful for your health, food on the table, and all those little things we take for granted. I also ask that you be kind to even strangers this holiday season. You never know the impact that you may have on another. Please be safe and if you’re family drives you crazy….. walks are very good for the soul or a pair of headphones.

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior. Carl von Clausewitz

A few weeks ago, I signed up to do a secret santa blog swap. When I initially got the name Sophia Harlow. I’m going to be honest. I was extremely nervous and I was a little bit intimidated. I wanted to do her justice with this post. The reason is that she represents a lot of my favorite events that I go to. I’m very thankful and respectful for the work she does with them. My hope for this blog post is that I represent her in a way that she’s proud of.

Who is Sophia Harlow? She is the brand manager (not owner oops) for Blueberry and Vinyl. She’s the owner of Uber and the blog manager for Truth. She is also the co-owner of Shoetopia and a fabulous blogger. She does a lot for the second life community.

As you can imagine, I was nervous by her resume alone. I waited one full day to message her. I had to build up my own courage. I’m not known for messaging people like that. BUT, I did indeed finally say hi to her. From there, the rest is history

When I got her name, I knew right away that I would have this photo shoot in my personal home. It’s quiet and no one would interrupt. When she landed, my heart skipped a beat, because I knew that a conversation had to move past the words of hello. I had no idea what I would say, but I was hoping not to make a fool of myself. In the end, I did okay and I was silly for being so nervous.

After she landed in my home, we greeted one another. She confessed to looking at my profile. I had also looked at hers too. To prepare for the whole meeting, a lot of bloggers checked profiles for social media, flickr, and blogs. I was a follower of Sophia on my plurk. I checked out her flickr and her blog. However, in all honesty, I hadn’t gone through her plurk though. I wanted to meet her and not her plurk, so I reserved looking at it for a later date. After the meeting with her, I did go through and read a few posts.

Something in my profile caught her eye. A few weeks ago, I wrote about chronic pain in my profile. She revealed to me about her own battle with rheumatoid arthritis. I myself struggle with osteoarthritis. It is due to an injury.. I also have a loved one going through the battle of rheumatoid arthritis. I am intimately aware of the cruelty that it deals out to those with this diagnoses. As you can see, chronic pain is a huge part of my real life. I hardly talk about the effect it has on me or my loved one. It makes me cry, so I refrain from talking about it. I’ve gone through drug after drug myself. I’ve also watch someone go through failed drugs and infusions. It’s hard seeing someone in that much pain and not being able to take it away, yet wanting to wave a magic wand to make it disappear. And I had someone stand next to me, who understood that battle.

Sophia did not need me to explain anything. Instead, she gave me hope. She gave me compassion. As I sat there listening to her telling me there is always new research coming out and drugs, I took her words to heart. I sat and cried from finally speaking to someone who understands. She spent the majority of our time consoling me. I never had to go through much explanation. I sat and listened. I took every IM to heart. I will be forever grateful for that conversation. Thank you Sophia for being so lovely, wonderful, and gracious to me. I got so much more from the Secret Santa blog swap than I ever thought imaginable. Thank you again Sophia.

For the photo shoot, I chose outfits that can be found at this month’s Collabor88. If you’re interested in our outfits above, please check my credits down below.

Side Note–I will be writing one more blog post before taking my holiday. So you have me for one more picture and blog post!!!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥Note: Before I start to go into my post, I’d like to give a little reminder to people. Bloggers do in fact get benefits for the services they provide to companies and events. However, bloggers do not get items from every company on the grid, because they are a blogger. We, just like many other residents, pay for a lot of the things that we feature in our blog posts. It came to my attention that this needs to be mentioned. Blogging takes time, money, and creativity to do the work that we love. I’d like to ask magazines to please post the credits at the end of an article, such as this one. It’s fair to the many designers who have worked hard at creating their wares. Also part of my job and maybe the most important part of my job is giving credit where credit is due. Lots of bloggers take time to gather information regarding, the slurl, the company, name of the product, and who created the product. It takes time for bloggers, and vloggers to gather this information. Blogging is truly a work of love. These five pictures took about a month to create. I went to various events around the grid and spent my real life money at events. I took time taking pictures, coming up with ideas for those pictures, and editing them. I know creating a magazine is labor intensive just like blogging is… and takes its own amount of time, but the importance of listing credits in the magazine itself is so important and respectful to the designers and event coordinators who work extensively to create the virtual world that we live in. Thank you for taking the time to read my note.

♥♥♥♥I would also like to apologize to my followers for such a long post. This is not my typical blog post.

This isn’t my normal blog post. I’m being featured in VSN magazine. Unfortunately, credits sometimes take a lot of room, so I was asked to feature them here. I’m very lucky that I keep records of all my credits, just in case such a thing would happen. So this post will be extremely long and I am sorry, but I wanted my followers to know where I got the items featured in my pictures, since I am a blogger. Again I am really sorry for how long this post is. I’ve worked very hard on these photos, so I am excited to share them with you. My inspiration for this photo was The Night Before Christmas poem by Clement Clarke Moore. I’m not a furniture blogger, but the article centers around the holidays. In my home, you can’t have a holiday without a decorated tree in the living room, so I decided to showcase mine.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Desmond Tutu

Part of my Christmas has always included a day where I get in my car and drive around the neighborhood looking at all the lights. Before anyone judges me, my hometown is EXTREMELY cold in the winter and many people do this in my neighborhood. It’s part of the culture here. They even create a light festival, displaying extravagant display of lights for the holidays. All the proceeds go directly to the children’s hospital for kids with cancer. I’ve gone every year, since I was 13 years old. So when I think of the holidays, I’m always reminded of those cold nights with an array of sparkling, and twinkling lights of every hue.

Sometimes you see hope in those twinkling lights for a magical Christmas, despite the darkness of the night and coolness from the cold breeze.

“No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you’ll find the positive side of things.” Demi Lovato

In my real life, I have two cats. Wrapping gifts with animals around me is also one of my favorite past times. Usually, I have holiday music on or a Christmas movie. I’m also surrounded by tape, wrapping paper, and fabric bows, while wearing something cheery and festive. All those little things always help getting into the holiday spirit.

Along with the holiday spirit, I always find myself a bit more positive and hopeful. I found Demi Lovato’s quote and it resonated with me. I’ve gone through many trials in the past year in all my worlds. The light at the end of the tunnel seemed to not exist and sometimes you have to read inspirational quotes to remind you that there is light, but you have to always keep working towards it.

It’s our challenges and obstacles that give us layers of depth and make us interesting. Are they fun when they happen? No. But they are what make us unique. And that’s what I know for sure… I think. Ellen DeGeneres

It’s no secret that I’ve endured obstacles and challenges in this past year. A few of my blog posts lacking commentary. But even in the end, I’m glad to go through those obstacles. Some I’m still really dealing with and I will deal with them for quite some time. But I know in the end, it will make me….well me and maybe even a better person. Ellen DeGeneres got this quote so right though. It’s no fun going through those obstacles, when you’re going through them.

I chose this picture and this quote together, because snow is an obstacle for me–especially this time of year. I have to dig out my car. My joints don’t always like the cold. Despite those two facts, I can’t deny the beauty of nature. Learning how to over come adversity and still admire the beauty around you is the part that can make a person unique–and that’s what I think :).

Last but certainly not least, my last picture for the magazine.

Even though you’re growing up, you should never stop having fun. Nina Dobrev

I took this photo with a friend of mine. She let me borrow her avi. She went to bed and left her there in the pose for me. I’d just like to thank Alisha for letting me do that. I know not a lot of people would have done that for me. So I wanted to give her a proper shout out.

I think having fun is so incredibly important in life. I think laughing and having a good time is vital to the soul. Life is so incredibly difficult. Humor breaks up all the hardship and gives us a break. Despite whatever I’ve gone through in this past year, laughter and good times have helped me immensely–sometimes that means talking with old friends and new ones.

This concludes my magazine spread. I wish you all a happy and safe Holiday. I have one more blog post before I go off on vacation. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and please stay safe.

“If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?” Confucius

I’ve had a roller coast of a ride these last two weeks. I’ve had happy moments in second life and hard moments in real life. It can definitely feel like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes in the dead of night, you start to worry. But like Confucius said, if nothing is wrong with your heart, then you have nothing to worry about or fear. He was right, but then again…Confucius was the one who said the quote. I can’t disagree.

In the last week, I’ve had my article published in Squeeze! magazine and I’ve been accepted by Eliavah to join their blogging team. All these wonderful things are happening in the world. I’ve had moments of great joy, reflecting on all of those wonderful moments.

Yet in all those great moments, I’ve had some really difficult things go on in real life. Then again life is full of roller coasters. They call it a ride for a reason. There’s ups and downs–and even a few sudden curves. I don’t always talk about those curve balls that real life throws at me, but they are there.

Sometimes, you have to tell yourself that you can do anything, so you can handle the curve balls of life. This also applies to second life. Just when you think you have everything figured out, it will suddenly change on you… mesh bodies, blog support closing, or even trying to get used to a new group inworld. I wish all real life curve balls were as easy as second life, but it’s not. And you have to go with the flow. I am always learning to just go with the flow. It’s a life long journey.

I’ve had a lot of changes happen in the past few months. It leaves me a bit blue. Sometimes I fear the unknown in regards to health or worry about those who are closest to me in my real life. Everyone around me is having a hard time. So I trust in my heart to over come worry and fear. But sometimes you have to be reminded that you have the ability to over come worry and fear. So I linked this Sia song to bring strength to those who need. Life can be hard, but you really can do anything.

“The whole point is to live life and be – to use all the colors in the crayon box.” RuPaul

I’ve had a lot of time to think about life this week. I wasn’t going to type anything, because I’ve been dealing with the death of my grandmother. Despite her passing, I wanted to say thank you to a group of friends that have been there for me this week. I wouldn’t feel as good as I do without you.

The reason that I chose to type up a blog is because I owe a couple of people a big thank you. Many don’t know but I have a friend Pixie who named me as the style editor for her magazine. I’ve been working hard on my first article. I’m really excited to share that with everyone in the next week. Again, thank you pixie for keeping my mind occupied this past month. I really needed it.

I’d like to thank people who have messaged me this week. I’ve been very lucky this week. I had strangers behind keyboards make me laugh or make me take a stroll through a snowy sim. It was exactly what I needed in that moment. I haven’t been calm this week, but I found calmness through friends in all worlds–and family. So thank you again.

Now, at the same time, I’d like to give an apology in the same breath. I am very sorry, if I have not seemed myself lately. I have dealt with estranged family, which has not been easy and my grandmother’s passing. Talking to family for the first time in 10 years brings about its own kind of stress. As you can see, it has been quite a bit for me in my personal life. These last few months, I’ve been very reflective in my blogs and this has been the cause. When people have cancer, it’s not just the person who has it. It is the entire family who has it. I’ve stepped into roles that I haven’t been in for quite some time and it has taken a toll on me emotionally. Despite all of this, after the holidays and some down time, my happy talkative blogs should return back to normal. Until then, my blogs may have more pictures and less chatter. Thank you for your patience at this time. And thanks again to the people inworld helping me to see a little bit of light.

Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’m going to get right to the point. KINKY! I bought my brown dress from the Kinky event. My friend Alisha and my mystery man over there is wearing a harness and underwear both purchased from the kinky event. Alisha’s hair and flogger are both from Kinky!. If you like any of these items, I highly suggest visiting this event. It has become one of my favorites. I look forward to it every month. If you want more info about the clothes, hair, and whip, please check out my credits below.

I know this blog is very short. I’m not exactly myself lately and I’m a little distracted. Focusing is a little tough. My grandmother passed away this week from stage four lung cancer. so my blogs may be very short. If my avatar is logged online, I can not guarantee that I am behind the computer. Thank you for your patience at this time.